In an episode absolutely packed with wild moments, one insane cliffhanger happens less than halfway through The Boys Season 4 finale, “Season Four Finale” (previously titled “Assassination Run”)… None other than Ashley Barrett (Colby Minifie) gets superpowers. But what happened to Ashley in The Boys finale? And what are Ashley’s powers on The Boys?
Great questions all, and we’ll get into them here. But in the interest of full disclosure, the real answer is that nobody knows exactly what will happen since showrunner Eric Kripke and company are still writing Season 5. However, we do have a fair amount of speculation we can throw in there based on comments from Minifie, and general knowledge of how, you know, superpowers work.
So let’s get into it. First, a bit of recap on how we got here.
What Happened To Ashley On The Boys Season 4 Finale?
To distill this down as simply as possible, Homelander (Antony Starr) has been central to a plot to take over America. Specifically, they are going to kill President Bobby Singer (Jim Beaver) thanks to a shapeshifter who has taken on the form of Annie (Erin Moriarity). After that, VP Victoria Neuman (Claudia Doumit) will be installed as President, and Homelander will be the guy actually in charge. However, it’s pointed out to Homelander that anyone who has compromising info on him, or anyone else, at Vought needs to be eliminated.
While passing around a list of names, The Deep (Chace Crawford), in a rare moment of actual clarity, suggests, “Hey, if we’re thinking about who’s got the most dirt on us, wouldn’t Ashley’s name be at the top of the list?” Granted he spells her first name “Ashlee” and doesn’t know her last name, so I wouldn’t be too scared of the intellectual 4-D tiddleywinks he’s playing.
But still, Ashley overhears and realizes she’s about to die. A few episodes back, she was leaving a, er, floater in Homelander’s toilet, and discovered A-Train (Jessie T. Usher) raiding Homelander’s secret cache of Compound V. Ashley runs to Homelander’s room, grabs it, and injects herself. As she does, she screams and her wig falls off… In case you don’t remember, in Season 3 Ashley was pulling her hair out due to stress, a condition called trichotillomania. At the end of the season, Homelander forced her to remove her wig, revealing that she was completely bald.
Here, we’re reminded of that as her wig falls off. As Compound V courses through her body, it seems to be affecting her head in particular. It’s pretty gross! But what does it mean? What does it meeeean? Well, I’ll tell you, thanks for asking.
What Are Ashley’s Powers On The Boys? What Powers Does Ashley Get On The Boys?
Normally what we’d do here is [pushing glasses up nose] go to the source material. However, Ashley is an original character who doesn’t appear in The Boys comics by Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson. Whatever powers she gets, we’re in uncharted territory here.
As mentioned earlier, the final season is still being written, so the only folks who really know what happens with Ashley are locked in a room together, only allowed to emerge once eight episodes of television are written (I think that’s how writing works?). But Colby Minifie did chat with Variety about Ashley’s new powers, teasing that it’ll be “something crazy.”
“As we’ve seen, when V first enters your body, the historic visual on the show is that it enters your bloodstream and things start happening in your blood, and it takes over your body,” Minifie said. “So what we’re hinting at is something’s going to happen! We don’t know if she survives or dies, but I have pitched some things of what her superpower could be — they’re all humiliating. I don’t know what they’re gonna do, or how they’ll see that to fruition. But it will be something crazy.”
I’ll add just for context, Variety clarifies this interview was done “before the attempted assassination of Donald Trump.” I would venture they were most likely done during the junket for the series, which happened back towards the end of May. Could be wrong, but the point is, if so Minifie was weighing in even before the writing process for Season 5 had started, or right towards the beginning.
Okay, But Seriously, What Power Does Ashley Get? Stop Messing Around
As for her power, the sky is the limit, sure. But the show has proven that when they give someone Compound V, it ties thematically with them as a character. Look at Hughie Sr. (Simon Pegg), who felt like he was so ignored he was just passing through life… So he gained the power to fritz out and phase through objects and people. Or Butcher (Karl Urban), who had every single dark, horrifying thought he was holding inside burst out of him as disgusting, tumor-y tentacles, ripping Neuman in half in the finale.
So chances are whatever happens with Ashley will tie to her emotional state. I’d venture a guess that since Compound V seems to be affecting her head, we’ll get some sort of mind control powers — after all, she’s dealing with a total lack of control. Alternately, maybe she just grows a beautiful head of hair, like Marvel’s Medusa. And on the Let’s Hear It For The Boys podcast, we speculated that she could Hulk out, because she’s felt so powerless.
Whatever happened to Ashley, and whatever powers she gets, we won’t know until Season 5 premieres, most likely sometime in 2026.
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Wow why the f did I read all this thanks
Because you love it?
Terrible article, the author needs to take a writing class. They talked in circles and didn’t provide any relevant ideas.
Okay, I’ll sign him up ASAP!
What a stupid fucking pointless article.
All these articles are clickbait BS, probably generated by AI. Fuck this site.
Oh yeah? Could an AI tell you to go purple monkey dishwasher yourself?